Advances in computer technology have expanded the capabilities of computers. Among other things, computers are now able to process multimedia data which integrates visual presentations of still images, animation, and video with audio presentations of sound, music, and human voices. To enable computers to process the audio portion of presentations, computers are equipped with additional hardware, software and speaker systems. The additional equipment processes the audio portion of the multimedia data and can produce a wide range of quality sound. This process typically involves transforming digital data into analog data and then into sound which is projected through speakers. As a result of this technology, sound is becoming an integral part of many computer applications. For example, many CD-ROM computer games provide elaborate animated action enhanced by sound effects.
As with computers, computer network technology has also advanced. For example, the Internet, which is an international network of computers, is a conduit for the exchange of information. There are also many private networks of computers, or intranets, that are utilized by groups such as corporations. Whether it is the Internet or a private network, computer networks are basically made up of network "servers" and "network terminals" or "personal computers." Network servers are the computers that store and help to transfer the data that is available on the network. These servers allow large amounts of data to be accessed and downloaded by any users that have access to the particular network server. Network terminals or personal computers are the computers which a user interfaces with to request and view data that is stored on network servers. These devices will be referred to simply as computers throughout this disclosure. Computers and network servers are connected by data lines such as Ethernet cable or phone cable.
Establishing a network connection depends greatly on what network is being accessed. In a corporate environment a computer may be wired into a local computer network and the connection may also provide direct access to a larger computer network such as the Internet. On the other band, a computer may access a host computer via a modem connection. Through the host connection, typically known as an Internet service provider (ISP), the computer has access to the Internet.
The computers that make up a network are able to communicate different types of data by utilizing standardized communications protocols. The world wide web (www or "web") portion of the Internet utilizes the hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) for transferring information that has been put into hypertext markup language (HTML). HTML is a simplified derivative of SGML, or Standard Generalized Markup Language, which is a standard used to make information viewable across a variety of computer platforms and software. HTML operates through a series of codes that are placed within a text file which a web browser can interpret and translate into items such as links, lists, headings, and graphics.
The protocol, HTTP, lets web browsers communicate with special web network servers that contain collections of HTML data. HTTP is made up of four basic steps; connection, request, response, and close. In the connection phase, a web browser resident on a computer attempts to connect with a network server. Once the connection to the HTTP server is made, the browser sends a request to the server. The request specifies which protocol is being used and it tells the server what data it is looking for and how it wants the server to respond. After the request is fulfilled, the server responds by transferring the identified data to the requestor. Then, the connection between the server and the computer is closed. All of the data that is requested by the user is delivered to the user's computer together. There is no distinction between data that is intended for visual presentation or for audio presentation, it is all downloaded to the user. All of the data that is received by the computer is either received in digital format or if the data was accessed via a modem, it is converted into digital format by the modem before it is processed by the computer.
After the data is transferred to the computer, the web browser loads and displays the requested data. If the data is a graphic image the browser will launch the graphics viewer specified in its configuration settings. If the data is an audio or video file, the browser will launch a player program and present the data. Audio data is processed by the audio software and hardware in the computer and transformed into analog format and then into sound which is projected through attached speakers. Some examples of this type of multimedia data available on the Internet include video clips from movies and interactive online games.
The growing accessibly to multimedia computers and the improving ability to transfer media data over the Internet and intranets have combined to make multimedia computing more common. But, while the presentation of multimedia data downloaded from the Internet works well on multimedia computers, there are some shortcomings. Although multimedia computers are more accessible, many older computers and most laptop computers do not have sound capability. Additionally, many computers in work environments are not equipped with sound capability because the sound can disturb nearby workers or because sound capability would only rarely be utilized. Sound capability also costs extra money, which some consumers may not be willing to pay. Finally, another shortcoming is that in computers with sound capability, the sound is typically delivered from speakers into an open environment where there is limited privacy unless headphone or earphone attachments are utilized.
An example of where these problems exist is in a corporate environment. A corporation may have hundreds or thousands of employees who are located in different buildings and possibly all over the world. The corporation has a need to share information throughout the company, but in many instances computer systems are not uniform throughout the company. To communicate effectively, companies set up intranets or internal webs that operate in the same manner as the world wide web portion of the Internet. By utilizing HTTP and HTML companies communicate information between computers even though the computers themselves have different operating systems. Many corporations have intranets which successfully transfer data across the office and across the world.
As intranet technology has improved, corporations want to transfer not only text data, but also Via data throughout the corporation. Multimedia data can be used by the corporation to create multimedia presentations on a computer. The presentations can be in the form of training, sharing of technology, or financial updates. For example, an employee who wants to know about the corporate health insurance plan can access the intranet and receive a multimedia presentation at their computer which can include pictures, graphs, video, music and narration. In another example, a production engineer can add narration to a graphical presentation on how to implement the latest process improvement. The multimedia presentation can then be accessed by other engineers in other locations.
Although the multimedia presentations are helpful, as stated above there are some problems with the prior art's ability to present multimedia information. Firstly, many computers in corporations do not have sound capability. Secondly, in many corporate environments, large groups of employees work closely together. Employees may be clustered together with desks lined up side-by-side or separated only by small partitions. In these environments, the cumulative noise of multiple employees viewing multimedia presentations could be counter-productive. In fact, even one employee projecting sound from an open speaker computer system may be disturbing.
What is needed is a way of delivering sound to a computer user in a situation in which the computer does not have sound capability. Additionally, the sound needs to be delivered easily, economically, and privately, if necessary.